University News

Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, director of graduate studies and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Kinesiology, will deliver the fourth annual Cheryl J. Cohen Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Western Illinois University. Wiese-Bjornstal will present, "Understanding the Psychological Story of Sport Injury" at 7 p.m. in the University Union Sandburg Theatre.
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October 6, 2011

MACOMB, IL – Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, director of graduate studies and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Kinesiology, will deliver the fourth annual Cheryl J. Cohen Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Western Illinois University. Wiese-Bjornstal will present, "Understanding the Psychological Story of Sport Injury" at 7 p.m. in the University Union Sandburg Theatre. A reception in the Sandburg Lounge will follow the lecture, which is open free to the public.

Wiese-Bjornstal's area of expertise encompasses kinesiology, sport and exercise psychology, and her specific topics of academic interest include sports medicine psychology and youth sport science. Since 1994, she has served as an affiliated scholar for the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport and has authored chapters covering sport and exercise psychology, as well as introductory and concluding chapters, for the Tucker reports on "Developing Physically Active Girls" (1997 and 2007). As the director of graduate studies in the UMN School of Kinesiology, she develops, teaches and oversees undergraduate and graduate courses, advises graduate students and serves on graduate committees.

Her research has been published in a variety of sport and exercise psychology and sports medicine scholarly journals, i.e., Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, The Sport Psychologist and the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. In early October, she served as an expert for a CNN Heroes piece about female athletes and concussions (see cnn.com/2011/US/10/04/cnnheroes.sports.injuries/). Wiese-Bjornstal earned her B.A. in physical education from Luther College (Decorah, IA); her M.S. in physical education from the Springfield College (Springfield, MA); and her Ph.D. in physical education from the University of Oregon (Eugene).

In addition to the Oct. 25 public lecture, Wiese-Bjornstal will present a lecture to invited students studying in WIU's kinesiology department during the afternoon of Oct. 26.

"We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Wiese-Bjornstal on campus this year. She is a widely known and respected scholar in the kinesiology/sport psychology field. Her Cohen lecture on Tuesday evening [Oct. 25], and her presentation to graduate students in kinesiology the following day, will enrich our department and campus community," said Janet Wigglesworth, chair of the kinesiology department.

Cohen Lecture History

The focus of the annual Cohen Lecture alternates each year between exercise physiology and sport psychology. In 2010, the Cohen lecturer was Melinda Millard-Stafford, professor and associate chair of the School of Applied Physiology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The inaugural year of the lecture featured WIU alumna and Roseville (IL) native Ellen Evans, associate professor in the kinesiology and community health department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and director of UIUC's bone and body composition laboratory.

"Although Cheryl retired in 2006 after nearly 30 years of service, with her endowment, she continues to provide Western's kinesiology faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students, as well as community members, with a preeminent learning opportunity on Western's Macomb campus every year," said Jennie Hemingway, director of development for the COEHS.

For more information, contact the kinesiology department at (309) 298-1981 or kinesiology@wiu.edu.